Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, first, this morning, I would like to recognize a remarkable Senate career that is drawing to a close.

Gary Endicott has served in the Office of the Legislative Counsel for 37 years. Since his appointment as the legislative counsel of the Senate in 2015, he has directed that office and has done so with distinction. Now he is embarking on a well-earned retirement. After nearly four decades of service to this body, tomorrow is Gary's last day.

Much has changed during the time Gary has been with us. Over the years, Senators and staff have asked more and more of the legislative counsel's office, but thanks in large part to Gary's hard work and then to his leadership, we can always rely on his team for meticulous professionalism and expertise.

I understand Gary is headed back to his native Midwest. He departs with our gratitude and our best wishes for him and for his family.

Mr. President, on another matter, the Dodd-Frank law became effective in 2010. It ostensibly targeted banks that were deemed too big to fail, but 7\1/2\ years later, Dodd-Frank has proven to be far too blunt an instrument. For one thing, it has imposed a crushing regulatory burden on small community banks and credit unions. Rather than fixing too big to fail, Dodd-Frank has threatened to make many of these Main Street mainstays too small to succeed.

This is especially problematic because of the central role local financial institutions play in each of their communities. Local lenders provide a majority of small business loans and nearly three-quarters of agricultural loans, and in low-income communities, when a local bank closes, research suggests that loans to nearby small businesses plummet by 40 percent.

With farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and vulnerable communities, Americans need community banks, and they need credit unions, but Dodd- Frank is making it harder for these institutions to survive. Millions of Americans, from rural areas to inner cities, now find themselves in what researchers call banking deserts. Fortunately, help is on the way.

Thanks to the leadership of Senator Crapo, Democrats and Republicans have joined together to cosponsor a modest but important bill that would streamline the obstacles that are tripping up these smaller institutions. It is a commonsense, compromise measure, and Senators do not need to resolve all of our differences on Dodd-Frank in order to unite behind it. I look forward to voting to pass these reforms very soon. Tax Reform

Mr. President, on a final matter, as I have discussed, a number of America's largest employers are already reinvesting their tax reform savings in bonuses, pay raises, and new benefits for their employees. Higher take-home pay and lower tax rates are helping families cover today's expenses and save for the future.

In Nebraska, the Lincoln Journal Star reports that hometown companies Nelnet and Pinnacle Bank have awarded tax reform bonuses to thousands of workers. In Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports that utilities will pass along $147 million in tax reform savings to their customers. Acadia Healthcare, with operations in my home State of Kentucky, has announced that tax reform will enable it to build additional facilities on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic.

This week, Vice President Pence has been on the road, hearing how tax reform is changing Americans' lives and livelihoods for the better. He visited all three of those States and listened to workers and small business owners.

It is interesting, though. The huge number of early tax reform success stories is not getting the applause it deserves from over here on the other side of the aisle. Every one of my Democratic colleagues in the House and in the Senate made the political calculation to vote along party lines and try to sink tax reform--every single one of them in the House and the Senate. Fortunately, those efforts failed.

Yet, even with tax reform now as the law of the land, it seems my Democratic friends are so unwilling to admit their mistake that they would rather try to sabotage the law that is already helping families and making American job creators more competitive. Just yesterday, for example, Senate Democrats announced they would like to spend $1 trillion of taxpayer money and roll back Americans' brandnew tax cuts while they are at it.

This popular, new tax bill has been in effect for a couple of months, and they want to roll it back already, take the money, and spend it. There they go again. They just can't help themselves. To tax more, spend more, take money away from American families, and give it to the Federal Government is a familiar refrain from our Democratic friends.

Even amidst this tidal wave of good news from tax reform, even in the face of higher take-home pay, new jobs, new investments, raises, worker bonuses, and foreign competitors like China getting nervous, Democrats just can't help themselves. It must be in their DNA. They can't resist turning back to their old, top-down, tax-and-spend playbook.

By lowering the tax burden on companies, large and small, America turned on a bright neon sign that is telling the world we are open for business. Democrats want to unplug it. By lowering middle-class rates and expanding deductions, we gave families all across the country more breathing room to save or pay their bills. Democrats want to claw that money back.

Fortunately, for the American people, the Republicans in the House, the Senate, and the White House will not let them take back your tax relief, your lower utility rates, your bonuses, or your new opportunities. We are proud that we took money out of Washington's pocket and put it back in the pockets of hard-working Americans, and that is exactly where it is going to stay.

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